Kennedy: 'Lot of work left' as treasurer before Senate term

BATON ROUGE - Fresh off a landslide win, U.S. Sen.-elect John Kennedy says he'll head to Washington this week for orientation. But he doesn't plan to immediately relinquish his job as state treasurer.

The Republican winner of this weekend's runoff election said Sunday that he's "got a lot of work left to do" in his final weeks as treasurer and wants to help craft ideas for stabilizing Louisiana's state budget during his remaining tenure.

Even after he's one of Louisiana's two U.S. senators, Kennedy says he still intends to be "very involved in state issues."

Kennedy will be sworn into his new office on Jan. 3. The setting of Kennedy's exit date from the treasurer's office will determine whether the special election to replace him will be held in March or October.